Here’s how Nike, Gap and Mattel try to market in the metaverse
Some of the largest companies in the world are starting to open a shop in the metaverse, outlining a first pattern where people could make real money in the much vaunted digital realm. The deepening of the Wall Street Journal
The metaverse attracts brands like Nike and Gap with new ways to market and make money.
For fashion brands, toy manufacturers and others, this online world where users interact in their digital avatar guise, not unlike what happens in the movie "Ready Player One" or the online game "Second Life", is emerging as a new frontier for trade.
Companies are creating versions of their products that only exist on screens, with ownership backed up by digital acts known as non-fungible tokens or NFTs. They are also buying virtual real estate. Over 70% of the "land" of an online world called "The Sandbox" has already been purchased – largely by companies like Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Atari, a longtime video game maker – writes the WSJ .
Although companies are making forays into the metaverse to conduct business transactions, for now most businesses are focused on marketing to generate real-world sales. For example, musicians perform concerts on virtual stages to promote their albums, just as clothing brands participate in virtual fashion shows to spark interest in their latest outfits.
Some of these marketing efforts also involve revenue opportunities for companies.
THE GAP CASE
In January, US clothing retailer Gap Inc. began selling digital hoodies, in the form of an NFT, a first test of what business in the metaverse might look like for the company. An NFT hoodie is something the buyer avatar might wear someday, as they explore different corners of the metaverse. For the time being, however, Gap's NFTs do not offer this possibility, which would require Gap to develop his own virtual realm or find a way to make his NFTs compatible with existing realms. Meanwhile, customers can collect six of these NFTs, which currently cost around $ 2-11 each. By purchasing the full collection, customers have the option to purchase more expensive specialty NFTs.
According to the company, the first batch of NFT hoodies quickly sold out upon release. Gap released more in April and a number of other NFTs in June. Some of them are available for resale on secondary online marketplaces for those who still want to complete their collection. Gap and the artist who helped create the NFT pocket 10% of the selling price every time one is resold.
The company said it intends to continue releasing virtual apparel NFTs in the near future and potentially collaborate with other digital platforms.
“As more and more people spend their time in virtual spaces, we believe it is important to take this journey with our customers,” says Avery Worthing-Jones, product management manager at Gap. "We are going through a process of discovery to understand what is meaningful to our customers and what experiences we can foster through the metaverse that will enhance and augment these experiences."
TOWARDS A MORE ENGAGING EXPERIENCE
It's still early days for what some metaverse enthusiasts are calling the next evolution of the Internet, but proponents describe it as far more engaging than existing online offerings, with superior 3D imagery. In many cases, users are expected to feel as if they are interacting with digital content and with each other, allowing them to experience experiences that would otherwise be too expensive, challenging or impossible in the real world. And businesses can benefit from selling virtual goods or promoting their brands to these users.
Companies like Nascar, fast-food chain Wendy's, and secular financial institutions like JPMorgan Chase & Co. are jumping into the metaverse.
WHAT THE AMERICAN BANK JP MORGAN DOES
JPMorgan, the largest American bank, has signed a one-year lease inside a virtual shopping mall from a startup called Everyrealm Inc. The property is located in Decentraland, one of the growing number of three-dimensional online worlds that have sprung up. . The property does not offer real or virtual banking services, but currently features a virtual lounge with a second-floor teleporter, screens with videos on topics like cryptocurrencies, a white paper on the metaverse, a library full of books, and a learned owl.
Feedback from corporate clients so far shows that this is "a great way to use our marketing resources," says Umar Farooq, chief executive officer of the bank's Onyx unit, which was founded in 2020 and operates a blockchain-based platform for payment transactions.
Although JPMorgan states that it has no intention of making direct income in the metaverse for the time being and that it intends to remain present only as a marketing tool, it expects platform providers and companies in the metaverse to grow to generate $ 1 trillion in total annual revenue. .
SOME SKEPTICS
Getting the metaverse to reach a similar dimension requires a lot of work, and even some leading figures in the tech industry have expressed skepticism since Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg rebranded his company Meta Platforms Inc. to reflect his move to this one. emerging technology. According to Zuckerberg, the metaverse would represent a new way of interacting between people, offering new opportunities to trade, albeit with high initial costs, for equipment such as headphones for more immersive experiences.
THE FIRST AREAS
However, early efforts offer insight into the new types of business opportunities that could emerge. Some of the early digital realms include online games with microeconomies of their own, such as "Eve Online". A more popular and trending example was created by Roblox Corp. where users teleport from one virtual hub of the platform to another to play, socialize and attend concerts.
Even startups like Hololands LLC, the non-profit foundation Decentraland and Pixowl Inc, a unit of Animoca Brands that owns the game “The Sandbox”, are trying to build virtual cities. These organizations sell virtual real estate to early adopters – companies and individuals – who have no problem buying land in a place where more is constantly being added.
Buyers are becoming owners, renting their properties online to businesses that want to open shops, host special events, or simply put up billboards for passersby. These owners also offer virtual properties to consumers, who can build digital homes to store their NFTs and hang out with friends.
WHAT NIKE AND MATTEL DID LAST YEAR IN THE METAVERSE
Last year Nike Inc., Mattel Inc. and other consumer product manufacturers created their hubs on Roblox to promote their brands. Gucci created one in which it sold users around two dozen items, including virtual bags and bands, in most cases priced between 80 and 900 Robux (around $ 1-10), the platform's currency. More recently, in May Gucci began selling a new set of items, including a pair of virtual leggings, priced at 130 Robux. Robux prices start at 99 cents for 80 and go up to $ 99.99 for 10,000.
A VIRTUAL WORLD OF FREE TRADE OR A MOSAIC OF CORPORATE FEUDS?
One of the big questions still hanging over the metaverse and its long-term profit potential is whether the online realm will be a virtual world of free trade or a patchwork of corporate fiefdoms. According to analysts, for some companies that already have established virtual economies with large online communities, there isn't much incentive to connect worlds. Imagine a global economy where people can move from one country to another, but they can't trade and they can't take their money in and out.
"If every metaverse platform behaves like a country whose border guards don't allow visitors to bring trainers bought in another country, the metaverse will be a tiny universe," says Erik Gordon, chief executive of the Wolverine Venture Fund. at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
To avoid this, some companies are working to connect elements of the future metaverse.
Startup Tilia Inc. offers a way to send money into and out of the metaverse, and is working on ways to send money between virtual realms. Additionally, online marketplaces are springing up to sell a variety of NFTs for use in multiple realms. OpenSea, Rarible, and Objekt allow consumers to purchase tokens that function as digital currency, as well as resell or exchange them with others.
“We are still in the early stages,” says Lidiane Jones, executive vice president and general manager of the Digital Experiences unit at Salesforce.com Inc. “But we are already seeing new ways for companies to express their brands and offer business experiences in these virtual environments ".
(Extract from the foreign press review by Epr Comunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia-on-demand/ecco-come-nike-gap-e-mattel-provano-a-commercializzare-nel-metaverso/ on Sat, 25 Jun 2022 06:30:59 +0000.